Pelosi's head in the clouds

Richard Miniter:

THURSDAY morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stepped out of her Georgetown home and into a government-owned black Chevy Tahoe SUV. That gas-guzzler truck took her directly to the Rayburn House Office Building - where she was the lead witness at a Science and Technology Committee hearing on global warming.

This, the day after word broke of Pelosi's request for regular use of a U.S. Air Force C-32 - the same plane that flies the vice president and first lady.

She wants to travel in luxury. The Air Force jet is the same size and airframe as the Boeing 757-200, which carries about 300 passengers. The C-32 boasts 42 business-class seats - plus a wood-paneled state room, big-screen TV, full-size bed and crew of 16, including uniformed stewards who bring drinks and meals on request. Oh, and an open bar.

Cost to taxpayers? Some $15,000 an hour.

A round-trip to Rep. Pelosi's home in San Francisco could easily run $300,000. Meanwhile, the same flight on a commercial jet can run less than $300.

Pelosi campaigned on the promise that she would clean up the GOP's waste and abuse of taxpayer's dollars. So why doesn't she use the little commuter jet that the Air Force lent to Dennis Hastert, the previous speaker?

She said it was "not big enough" to accommodate her staff, supporters and other members of the California delegation. Also, it would have to stop to refuel. "There's a certain amount of inefficiency and risk involved in stopping and having to refuel," a Pelosi spokesman said.

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Then there's the speaker's concerns about global warming. In flight, the C-32 pumps out 10,000-plus pounds an hour of CO2, the main pollutant that greens finger in global warming. A single round-trip to San Francisco would produce more than 50 tons of pollutants. How can she have her plane and complain about global warming too?

Recently, Pelosi requested a military plane to fly her to a Democratic Party retreat in Williamsburg, Va. - just a two-hour drive from the nation's capitol. The Defense Department said no. (No word if she took her taxpayer-subsidized SUV instead.)

But it may prove politically risky for the Bush administration to keep saying no. Pelosi ally Jack Murtha chairs the subcommittee that controls the Pentagon's money. The Washington Times reports that Murtha has telephoned Bush officials, demanding that they give her the plane.

Worse, one source tells me, is what Democrats are reporting of that conversation - the implied threat that Murtha made: You want money for the Iraq war? You better give the speaker her plane.

Republicans were quick to point out that, in the same week that Pelosi endorsed a resolution that the president's troop surge is "not in the national interest of the United States," she asked that military resources be diverted to her personal travel. What's her concept of national interest?

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I think Murtha is a real bad guy in this plot. He is doing his heavy handed bit to prove how powerful he is. He is still angry that his bad advice on Iraq was ignored. Republicans in the House have latched onto the issue now and it does not look like it will go away. They have used an alternative fuels bill to get in their attacks on Princess Pelosi and Murtha's request.